J. Cole’s hoop dreams are alive and well. After signing with Canadian Elite Basketball League’s Scarborough Shooting Stars last week, Complex did some digging and connected Cole’s north of the border business trip back to a birthday party hosted by Drake.
Nicholas “Niko” Carino is a close friend of Drake’s who’s a co-founder of OVO. He also happens to be a part-owner of the Shooting Stars. Cole and Carino met up at Drake’s birthday party last year and started to talk about a potential opportunity and the rest is history. The league is set to host its season openers on Thursday (May 26) with the Shooting Stars paying a visit to the Guelph Nighthawks.
The 37-year-old rapper has earned the respect of his teammates in his short training camp stint prior to the season kicking off this week. “J. Cole, he’s really putting in the work,” forward Olu Famutimi said. “Whatever we’re doing, he’s doing probably even more. Comes in early, stays late, and his drive right now, he wants to become better and wants to be known as a guy that can really hoop.”